what I call a love story
by dreamsofprovidence
Summary: After the events of 3x03, Gary acknowledges his feelings and confronts Miranda, follows into 3x04 from Gary's POV, Spoilers beware :)
1. Chapter 1

Gary wasn't happy. He couldn't figure it out. Rose was gone, and good riddance. She was so exhausting. She jogged every day, even when it was raining, and lately he was thinking how nice it would be to sit with someone rather than chase after them.

_Work's going well_, he thought as he rooted around the sink, trying to find the cause of his malaise. _Rose might've been pushy, but buying the bar was a good bet._ Even if that meant tying himself down. Hong Kong was fun but it brought nothing but trouble. Best to stay here where he knew things would always be the same.

No, work wasn't what was bothering Gary.

'Fine', he sighed, the words echoing through the empty kitchen. He might as well admit it, if only to himself. It was Miranda. He always knew what to expect with her, but she wasn't holding up her end of the bargain! She was his best friend, and now she was kissing this other bloke. He wasn't even that good a reporter! Panning, Ha!

He put down the plate he had been washing for the past ten minutes, and picked up another. Someone only ate one bite of their Pavlova. He imagined Miranda's reaction. 'The horror', she would exclaim, clutching her pearls.

As he scraped it into the trash the noise filled his ears and suddenly he couldn't take it any more. He threw the dish across the room and reveled in the crash it made.

'Right', determined, he wiped his hands on the towel at his waist, and grabbed his keys.

Storming out of the kitchen, he bounced off the softest wall he'd ever encountered. Seeing Miranda fall, he managed to catch her flailing arms, only to be pulled down on top of her.

'Miranda! Are you okay?' This wasn't the first time he'd found himself in this position, but he found himself rather less annoyed about it than he had been before.

'Gary! Are you hurt?'

'What are you doing here?' Gary shifted his weight to the floor and helped Miranda sit up, and just caught the blush coming to her cheeks.

'I heard a crash'  
_  
Bugger, she heard that!_

'Oh, that was nothing, dropped a dish. Customer didn't finish their pavlova.'

'The horror!' Miranda's hand flew to her chest, claiming her necklace and playing with the diamond that hung there.

'Where are your pearls?'

'What?'

Chuckling, Gary stood and helped her to her feet.

'But that was just now, the crash'

He watched Miranda fix her clothes after the scuffle, and noted that she was avoiding his eye.

'What are you doing here?' Gary pressed, taking Miranda's hand and leading her to the nearest table. 'The kitchen's closed.'

Miranda chuckled to herself and looked at her hands, still intertwined with his. Suddenly flustered she began to bat away his hands. 'Stop it now, no flirting, friends remember?'

The punch in his gut took Gary by surprise. It didn't bother him yesterday, that horrible word. _Friends, that's right, Gary, Friends. _Turning quickly to avoid her gaze, he took the first chair down, set it upright and presented it kneeling with his head bowed.

'Your throne, milady'

'Milady? Really, thank you very much to you kind sir'

As Gary stood up and Miranda sat their heads clunked together, and Gary saw stars.

Miranda stood right back up, 'Oh, never mind, this won't do. Goodnight Gary.' She started to push past, but he was having none of that.

'Miranda, stop. You came here for a reason, so sit back down. You're not leaving until you're out with it.' Gary guided Miranda with a firm hand on her shoulder back into her seat, and quickly pulled a second chair down and sat, crossing his legs. 'Go on'

'Oh, it's so easy for you isn't it, Gary, just sitting there!' Miranda's hot flash of anger took him by surprise.

'What?'

'Nevermind. It's just…' She was getting flustered, and he didn't know how to help.

'What, Miranda, you can tell me anything.'

'But that's just it, I can't. I can't tell you everything because so much of it is about you!'

Gary uncrossed his legs and leaned in, 'Wh—'

'I can't tell you how hard it is being friends with you! It's really infuriating, you know. I can't tell you because if I do and you don't then we can't be friends anymore and I don't want that!'

His heart lifted, could she be saying what he's been trying to? 'Can I just say—'

'No, you can't because I'm saying this. I love being with Michael. I love the way he looks at me, and makes me feel. I should be with him, I should be with Michael.'

Miranda stood up, 'Goodnight Gary.'

Gary jumped up and followed her to the door, he knew if she left now, he'd never get his courage up again. 'Where are you going?'

'To be with Michael.' Miranda sighed and tried to push past. Gary stood his ground.

'Why? You don't love him.' _Please don't let her say she loves him…_

'I can love him, and he loves me.'

'I love you.'

Time froze as Gary held Miranda's gaze, willing her to believe him. He didn't realize it until he had said it, and now he knew it was true.

'I love you, Miranda.' Gary took a step closer.

'Don't.' Miranda took a step back.

'I love you.' Gary grasped her elbows and gave her a little shake as he pulled her closer.

Miranda dropped her gaze, 'Don't do that!'

'What?' He closed the distance that had been taunting him, snaking an arm around her back.

Miranda's gaze returned, with fire in her stare. 'Don't DO that! Don't wait until I've got a very pleasant boyfriend, thank you very much, to lie to me and make me feel like I have to choose between reality and my imagination!' _Imagination! Please, let her understand!_

'What's imaginary? I love you, Miranda, and yes, maybe I didn't know it before today, but I love you and I want to be with you!'

'I can't. I just can't do this anymore. I love you, Gary, I do, but—'

Gary couldn't hear Miranda's protests any more. Taking no more chances, no more wasted time, no more second guessing, he placed his hand on her neck, brought her close and closed her lips with his own….


	2. Chapter 2

Gary woke with a start. _Where did _that_ come from? I mean of course I love her, she's Miranda, but that was something else! _

Slapping the snooze button, he pulled the blanket over his head and took stock. _No. No. It was just a dream. No, its fine, its fine. Just a dream,_ Gary figured if he kept repeating it it might just work. _Just a dream. Wake up and it will go away. _Not wanting to give it up quite yet he closed his eyes and ran through what was already fading from memory, trying to hold onto at least the kiss, searching the dark for answers, when the alarm clock began its second shrill note and chased the rest of the dream out the window.

Throwing off the blankets, Gary made his way to the loo to prepare for the day.

_Five days of Penny must be driving Miranda around the bend, _Gary thought as he rooted around for a snack to bring Miranda's mum. Settling on some fresh green grapes he grabbed a soda and headed across the street to the joke shop. Just coming out was that slick doctor. _Probably doesn't wash his hands,_ he immediately felt bad for the thought, shook his head and headed up the stairs. He could hear the girls voices echoing down the hall.

He found Tilly and Stevie clucking with Penny on the futon with Miranda hunched over her computer. "Hey Penny, how are you feeling?" Gary crossed the room and leaned down to lay a gentle kiss on Penny's cheek. As he straightened he had the quickest flash of memory. Laying just there with Miranda and her silly cold bed dance. Gone as fast as it came, he crossed to the counter to put the grapes and the soda next to a blood pressure cuff.

"Well, I've been flat out -"

"I've got Cerebral Venous Thrombosis!"

Watching Miranda dance about describing what she called an ass gap, Gary felt a strange tightening in his chest, like he felt guilty or sad, like he had forgotten something he was supposed to tell her about.

He crossed to a stool by Miranda's desk. As he sat, Miranda suddenly thrust the blood pressure cuff into his hands, and asked him to help. He found it rather difficult to anchor the cuff on a moving target but he knew by now that there was nothing that could keep Miranda still.

"Alright, just gotta pump it up, you may feel a swelling," Gary cringed at his wording and was glad the girls let that one slide. _I have no idea what I'm doing, am I playing doctor? Grow up Gary! You're supposed to take her pulse or something? They'll buy it if I make it look like I know what I'm doing, right? I just pump this thing? Right, take her pulse! _He found himself a little lost and was thrilled Stevie offered to make tea.

He helped Miranda out of the cuff and helped her to her chair to give her a bit of a shoulder rub._ Poor girl, Penny must be driving her –_

Before he could finish the thought, he heard the knock.

"Knock knock!" Turning, Gary saw the doctor enter and his heart skipped a beat. _Shit. _

As soon as Miranda stood he knew he'd lost her. He felt his face fall and immediately forced a smile. _The girls are making fools of themselves, he's not even that hot, _he tried and failed to convince himself. After Miranda took down Stevie and Tilly, Gary remembered the grapes he had brought. Almost to show off to that _alleged_ doctor that he was as comfortable in Miranda's home as his own, he made his way around her cabinets to grab a bowl. He was trying to ignore Miranda's inept flirting, but couldn't ignore it as she broke into song. He always enjoyed when Miranda found herself lost in a conversation, especially when she got the wrong end of the stick, but when she thought she had a half hour left to live, Gary found himself hoping Miranda would turn to him.

"Have sex with me" Y_es!_ "doctor" _NO! Whelp, that answers that then... She prefers that hot doctor._

Gary laughed along with Miranda as she was corrected, but lost his good humor when Miranda reiterated her offer of "the sex." After the doctor left, the girls descended into squawking hens, getting louder and louder until he just couldn't take it.

"Girls" No response.

"Girls" _Did they get louder?_

"Girls!" Penny, Tilly, Stevie and Miranda turned to face him, "You're really scaring me!" _Oops, well at least it worked!_

"What am I doing, I'm the one with a boyfriend," Miranda started talking about Mike, and living without regret. _That's right, she's got a boyfriend now, don't you forget it._ Gary grabbed the bowl of grapes and cozied up to Penny on the futon, to enjoy her sweeping declarations of life changes. He especially liked the idea of the music festival, but could not picture her there. "What you, go to Beats on the Green?"

"I'm going to make a change," Miranda started singing Man in the Mirror. Gary, Stevie and Tilly all shared a glance and snuck out to leave her to it.

"Oh, Gary, I've got fabu-citing wonder-isimo news, I'm a Life Coach now! And you need me, ever so much, lets make an appointomento, and we can sort you out!" Tilly grabbed Gary's arm and held on even as he walked down the stairs and out the shop doors. He thought about his last interaction with Miranda, and felt happy and sad all at once, and agreed to meet with Tilly for lunch the next day.


End file.
